


You're a mean one Mr. Grinch

by PlaidCladHobbit



Series: 365 Days of Writing Prompts [15]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaidCladHobbit/pseuds/PlaidCladHobbit
Summary: Chloe smiles when it hurts.Prompt: What is your least favorite personal quality in others? Extra points for sharing your least favorite personal quality in yourself.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Series: 365 Days of Writing Prompts [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1561201
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	You're a mean one Mr. Grinch

Chloe’s default reaction to most situations is happiness. Grandad calls her Pearl because there’s rarely a time when her teeth aren’t showing. She’s a cheery girl, nothing really gets to her.

At least, that’s what it looks like on the outside.

She’s mastered the art of smiling when it hurts. Even before she realised that’s what she was doing

Like the time when she is 8 and skins her knee badly rollerblading. Gripping her leg as it stung like a mother, the wound staying white for far longer than it should have, and then bleeding even more. And she grins. It burns inside her knee and behind her eyeballs, but smiling holds it all at bay. So she continues.

Or getting stood up at 14. She arrives home smiling hours later after having made friends with some very adventurous ducks at the park while she waited. Sympathy shines through her parents’ pinched mouths and furrowed foreheads. Chloe simply flops between them on the couch, stealing her father’s ice-cream and laughing at whatever comedy show is playing.

When she’s 5 years old and falling out of the treehouse. Head smacking against a half-buried rock. Blood pouring out of a gash on her forehead. It’s not super deep but it bleeds a lot, like head wounds tend to. Her mother, having three other children and is well used to blood, still takes her to the hospital in a panic because _she just. Keeps. Giggling. Jack, I think she has broken her brain._

Not getting accepted into her top colleges at 18. But it’s fine, she smiles, Georgia is a lovely state. And Barden has a great energy. Throat feeling about three sizes too big for her body.

She’s 22 in the Kennedy Centre, watching Beca happily run into Jesse’s arms. Heart dropping out of her chest and shattering across the stage. She turns, kicking shards out of the way and matches Amy’s booming cheer. Taking comfort in her friends, she celebrates and laughs, and presumably says the right things.

All without hearing anything past the burning in her ears.

22 listening to Stacie gush about the age of stars. Chloe sips terrible cider and doesn’t understand anything past the love she feels for these crazy girls. Beca returns to the group with Jesse in tow. Chloe smirks and wiggles her eyebrows. Wraps an arm around Beca’s shoulders, whispering blatant innuendo about him and laughing at her blush. Happy to have her close for a moment before she’s inevitably ditched in favour of the boyfriend.

It’s her own fault. She just –

She’s 22 and dancing at a party when she just wants to cry. Wondering why she never learnt to say how she really feels.

22 and hating herself.


End file.
